Taylor Swift: Secret Sessions I

Taylor Swift: Secret Sessions I is the first competition, hosted in Pierzina Palace, Mischen to determine which Taylor Swift song will be sent to the upcoming Maia Song Contest 4.

On September 9th, it was announced from Mischen-Ville that Swift would be indeed be sent to the upcoming contest, it was just a matter of which of her songs, all having topped the Mischen charts, would be sent to the contest.

Taylor Swift will perform a series of songs at Adora Arena and a panel of Taylor Swift fans from Mischen will judge them through a tournament.

The Panel
The panel will be made up of 5 people, accredited Swifties. Kandace Sydney was rumoured to be among these, with Sydney herself appearing giddy in a candid photo taken the day the event was announced. Prime Minister Katie Bichler was reportedly being given a slot to represent the country.

The five panelists were announced to be
 * Kandace Sydney, socilate and medical student
 * Ashley Neleh, popular Mischen TV personality and host.
 * Katie Bichler, as Prime Minister.
 * Elissa Slater, Mischen resident who notably requested "Red" for her HoH Room.
 * Adora Villegas, the youngest panelist.

Format
Taylor Swift will perform her discography. They will rank their favorite songs on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest. The top 2 songs from each album, as well as the next 6 highest ranking songs will be added. Then there will be a bracket round, with the top song being the one submitted to season 4.

Format Change Controversy
However on September 13th, the format had to be adjusted as each panelist gave too many 10s, most notable Kandace Sydney, who gave every song a 10. It was decided that they would have to rank each song, from 13-0, with there being multiple 0s given out. Sydney led a protest at the insult to rank songs so low, but stopped protesting once Swift and her had a behind closed doors conversation, where presumptively Swift gave Sydney permission to do this.

Finale Delay
On September 16th it was announced the finale had to be delayed since you couldn't announce the winning song. This disrupted the momentum the concert had, and many Mischen residents were appalled. They will host a Carly Rae Jepsen concert at Adora Arena instead, performing her new album B sides.

On September 17th, Taylor came out and performed with Ellie Goulding performing her new album Delirium, as well as hit songs Figure 8 and Lights.

New Rules
Maia Council introduce new rules invalidating entire final 2. Kandace Sydney revolted, and got removed from the building, in a public embarrassment for Mischen.

The future of the contest is uncertain. It was wrapped up, and I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE was declared the winner, with New Romantics being selected as the entry. However Mischen was barred from entering due to cited questionable sovereignty status, but rumored that the antics of crazy Kandace Sydney getting Mischen kicked off from the MBU.

Preliminaries
Held over 5 nights, Swift performed at Adora Arena. Each night, she performed a studio album.

Taylor Swift
"Our Song" and "Should've Said No" were chosen, with a 6 point lead over 3rd (Picture to Burn) and 17 points over 4th(Mary's Song and Teardrops on my Guitar).

Picture to Burn would qualify in the Lucky Losers, being the highest ranking song to do so.

Fearless
"Love Story" and "Fearless" were the clear winners, with "You Belong With Me" losing by just 3 points, and "White Horse" in 4th.

"You Belong With Me" and "White Horse" qualified in the Lucky Losers.

Speak Now
"Enchanted" was the first to qualify in the closest round yet. There was a tie for 2nd place, between "Mine" and "Sparks Fly". "Mine" was selected to advance, as Ashley Neleh gave it a 13. Haunted was in 4th place by just 1 point. This was the first round where every song scored at least a 19.

It is the only album to have only 2 songs in the Round of 16.

Red
"All Too Well" won with 54, while "I Knew You Were Trouble" took the other qualifying slot with 49. "State of Grace" with 47 and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" with 46 missed the auto-qualify by 2 and 3 points.

"State of Grace" and "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" would qualify in the Lucky Losers.

1989
"New Romantics" was the clear winner, taking a 57, with "Blank Space" edging out "Style" for the 2nd slot by 1 point with 50.

"Style" would later qualify in the Lucky Losers.

Lucky Losers
In addition to the top 2 songs from each album advancing, the 6 songs with the highest score that didn't originally qualify would also advance.

Knock-out stage
The knock-outs occurred after the preliminaries. Depending on the total score received for each song, were placed into the bracket accordingly. In the event of a tie, then Swift herself broke it on her personal preference.

She then continued the event, with each round taking it's own night.

Round of 16
The five panelists will give each song in the matchup a 1 or 2. However for all 16 songs, each panelist has one 5, 4, 3 point play to use once. Each choice is secret until the results are revealed. Katie Bichler used her 5 point card on "Love Story" and it soared to an easy victory. Kandace Sydney and Elissa Slater used their 4 point card on "New Romantics", deafening the blow from Ashley Neleh using a 3 on "State of Grace" which meant New Romantics won by 4 points. Sydney used her 3 point card, while Slater and Adora Villegas used their 5 on "You Belong With Me" to slam "Fearless" out by 10 points. A strategically placed 5 card Ashley Neleh helped her overcome the majority and put "Mine" through to the next round. Nobody used any cards on the fodder songs, and "White Horse" advanced with support of 3 panelists. Villegas used a 4 point card to keep her favorite song "Style" in the competition. Neleh, Bichler used a 4 point card while Villegas played her 3 point card to keep "All Too Well "in the running. Kandace Sydney used her 5 point card for "Enchanted" but everyone else voted against it, including Bichler and Slater using 3 point cards on "I Knew You Were Trouble" to edge it out 2 points in the closest race. This makes Sydney the only panelist to have the song she used her 5 point card on not advance.

Quarter-finals
Taylor Swift again performed the final 8 songs. This time the panelists only had a 4 and 3 wildcard to play, once during the night, with it being revealed at the results. Kandace Sydney & Katie Bichler played their 4 point cards, and propelled "New Romantics" to the semis by 7 points. Ashley Neleh & Elissa Slater played their 4 point cards, letting "You Belong With Me" advance. This round, everyone played a 3 point card for their favorite song. The coalition of Sydney, Neleh and Bichler bet out Slater and Adora Villegas and "Style" moved on. Villegas used a 4 point card on "I Knew You Were Trouble" and it advanced to the next round.

Semi-finals
Swift will perform the top 4 songs. This time the judges only have a single 3 point card to play on one of the four songs in hope of advancing it to the finals. Kandace Sydney and Adora Villegas used their 3 point card on New Romantics, but Elissa Slater used theirs on "You Belong With Me". It became a tie, so Swift decided to remove the bonus points, meaning "You Belong With Me" advanced 8-7. Katie Bichler used her 3 point card on "Style" and Ashley Neleh used her 3 point card on "I Knew You Were Trouble". Neleh got her way in the majority, and "I Knew You Were Trouble" moved to the final 2.

Finals
The finals will have Taylor Swift perform the top 2 songs, "You Belong With Me" from Fearless and "I Knew You Were Trouble" from Red.

However it ruined the once a day momentum the concert had due to some rule that we don't know. The finale later went on without a hitch!

The panelists will now be voting for one song they wish to proceed. The song who gets 3 panelist's favor will be the winner of Taylor Swift: Secret Sessions I.

"I Knew You Were Trouble" was declared the winner in an essential 3-2 vote, with Adora Villegas and Elissa Slater in the minority.

Criticism
The decision was controversial, as Cindy Chiang from Arkaystia citing the move as "an act against my country" and "an excuse to have a Taylor Swift concert" as Swift is on the no entry list to the country. Kandace Sydney, a Mischen citizen & resident rumored to be on the panel, told Cindy some choice words, and that Swift was the best candidate, and a major favorite to win the whole thing.

After the Fearless night at the Secret Sessions, many started to question the authenticity of Villegas' answers, as many noticed they were the exact same as Kandace Sydney's. When prompted this on a water taxi to Pierzina Palace, Sydney responded with "Obvious lying" and when Adora Villegas was asked, the six month old started crying and Rachel Reilly hit photographers with an umbrella.

When Speak Now's round completed, it was again noted that this time, Adora submitted the exact opposite of Kandace's scores, therefore lowering the round's top songs, and even causing a tie, which will likely weaken Sparks Fly's chance at entering the Round of 16. Sydney was visibly enraged, and an insider says "I'll remember that screaming little (bleep) who the attendant was that gave birth to her". Sydney later denied every saying this with "Obvious lying"

There was rampant speculation on the future of the contest, however the show went on and continued the finale despite trouble and controversy surrounding panelist Kandace Sydney and the MBU.